1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer software, and more particularly to systems and methods for assessing the risk of binary compatibility failure between software products.
2. Background
Modern multi-user/multitasking computer systems run complex operating systems to accomplish concurrent executions of myriad user applications. Broadly speaking, an operating system may be defined as system software that schedules tasks for execution by one or more processing units in a computer system, allocates storage among various application programs, handles the system interface to the peripheral hardware, and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running. Some examples of operating systems include the UNIX operating system, the IBM OS/2 operating system, the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems and MS-DOS, the Macintosh operating system, the Novell Netware system, the Digital Equipment Corporation's VMS operating system, and the Solaris Unix operating system from Sun Microsystems.
An operating system program may be divided into two parts: (1) the operating system kernel that contains the major operating system functions, such as the scheduler, and (2) various system programs which use facilities provided by the kernel to perform higher-level house-keeping tasks, such as providing an interface to various user application programs. An application program may be defined as a program that performs a specific function directly for the user (perhaps using one or more operating system services via the above mentioned interface). This is in contrast to system software, such as the operating system kernel, which supports the application programs. Word processing and spreadsheet software are common examples of popular application programs.
Operating systems are updated periodically to enhance features, performance, or other parameters. Current versions of application programs may not be compatible with a new version of an operating system. Therefore, consumers may be required to purchase new versions of application programs, which may be an expensive proposition. In large organizations, this can result in significant costs in upgrading independent software vendor (ISV) software, significant delays and expenditure associated with migrating application software and its accompanying data, and an increase in cost of the overall project.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for systems and methods for determining compatibility between application programs and operating systems. More particularly, it would be desirable to provide a tool that can give end users an assessment of the risks of incompatibility between software currently operating on their computer systems and a new or upgraded operating system.